The Emperor and the Knightess

Chapter 182

Normally, there wasn’t much to do for the leader of an entire division. Except for someone like Sir Ainno, most highest-ranking knights rarely had to use their swords.

This was especially the case as the knights became older. As they aged and climbed the political ladder, the knights became more experienced, but they lost their stamina and speed along the way. Poliana was the one responsible for the protection of the lady’s quarters, which meant that in reality, all she had to do was maintain the area by walking around the place a few times. Most of the actual work was expected to be done by her guards.

But Poliana refused to sit around. She did everything. She, of course, assigned duties to her guards, but Poliana also participated actively. She often patrolled and guarded the area herself, which annoyed her men greatly. A hard-working boss meant that her men had to work just as hard or even harder.

Today, instead of going to the lady’s quarters, Poliana walked towards the training field. When her guards saw their boss, they saluted her in surprise. They screamed, “Oh, boss! Welcome!”

“What brings you here?”

“We were working very hard, Boss! We weren’t fooling around at all!”

Poliana looked around expertly to check how her guards were training. Afterward, she waved at them and ordered, “At ease.”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

“I want to practice my archery.”

“Of course! We will set it up immediately, Boss!”

“I don’t need any of you to assist me. I don’t need anyone to pick up the arrows. I just want to practice by myself, ok? You all know how horrible my archery skill is, right?”

“Of course! We won’t let anyone come near you to disturb you!”

It wasn’t that she was worried someone might get accidentally hit by her runaway arrow. She just wanted to be alone so she wouldn’t be as embarrassed. Her guards understood her intentions, knowing how bad her archery was, so they left her alone.

Poliana slowly pulled the string and let the arrow go. The arrow flew halfway before falling to the ground.

‘Dammit.’

Poliana tried again, and this time, the arrow reached near the target. She sighed deeply and took a slow breath. It was Lucius the First and Sir Baufallo who taught her how to shoot an arrow. These two men were excellent hunters and archers.

Her teachers were amazing, but Poliana, who was their student, was terrible. It was partly because she had minimal experience. She found it hard even to find the right posture. A good posture was important for any form of fighting skills. Poliana steadied her feet and calmed down her breath.

Slowly, she shot her arrow again and this time, it hit the outer of the target. This was the best one of the day so far, but she was still very far from hitting the center.

Poliana thought suddenly, ‘Sir Deke must be doing a very good job.’

The Intelligence Unit was the emperor’s secret project. Poliana recommended Sir Deke to lead the unit and it seemed that he was doing excellent work.

Because it was not an official division, and because Sir Deke and Lucius the First chose all the members of it secretly, not even Poliana knew much about it. She didn’t know who belonged to it, or even how many men were involved. All she knew was the existence of such a unit.

‘I can’t believe the emperor knew about what happened last night at the restaurant with Frau.’

It happened in a public place with many eyes around them so it wasn’t actually a secret, but it was impressive to see how fast the emperor learned about it. Poliana wasn’t wearing her uniform, but there was a good chance someone recognized her. After all, she had very distinctive features. She had large scars on her face and her hair was unusually short.

Poliana shook her head, ‘Stop! I can’t be so distracted. I need to focus.’

She needed to remain calm and concentrated if she wanted to hit her target.

Concentration! Concentration!

It wasn’t that she expected to become an expert archer. She knew very well she would never be able to accomplish such a dream. She only had one realistic goal, and that was to catch something.

Poliana tried shooting another arrow, and this time, it hit the outer edge of the target again.

***

After her practice, Poliana changed into her blue uniform and went to visit Rebecca. Unfortunately, Rebecca was still angry and she refused to see Poliana. Left with nothing else to do, Poliana decided to go visit Frau instead. Based on her experience, Poliana guessed that Frau would be either by Rebecca’s side or at the doctor’s quarter.

Poliana casually walked to the doctor’s quarter and bowed to the healers she saw there. When she didn’t find Frau, she raised her eyebrows.

‘Hmm… Maybe I got him too drunk last night?’

Doctor Frau kept refusing to drink, but Poliana forced him. She filled his cup over and over again and pressured him to drink. He was from Acreia after all, so she expected him to be a strong drinker. Was she wrong about this?

‘Could it be that he is so hungover that he couldn’t make it to work today?’

If this was true, Poliana was going to be very disappointed in him. Poliana didn’t overly enjoy drinking, but because of her position, she often had to attend events that involved drinking. For this reason, Poliana would’ve preferred her husband to be a strong drinker.

When Poliana didn’t leave the doctor’s quarters, one of the doctors asked her, “Marquess, did you want something?”

Only

“Where is Frau Sneke?”

“Five doctors, including Doctor Frau, were sent out to the city per the emperor’s order. There is a skin disease going around due to the contaminated well water and his highness wanted this situation to be contained.”

Poliana was impressed with Lucius the First. It was only a few hours ago when they were discussing this problem, and already, the emperor figured out a solution to it and carried it out. What a brilliant idea to send the royal doctors out to help the people!

Of course, the truth was that Lucius the First just wanted Frau gone from the castle. He was furious with Frau Sneke for proposing to the woman he loved, and he wanted to get rid of him. The problem was, Lucius the First never expected Poliana to go visit Frau. He never expected her to actively seek the doctor out. Lucius the First still believed that Poliana was not interested in Frau Sneke.

Unfortunately for the emperor, Poliana was very interested in the doctor. She wanted to find out more about Frau and get to know him better. This was why she decided to go visit him in the city.

‘I can also explore the city too.’

She could accomplish a lot of things by going outside the castle walls. She could examine the water contamination problem herself and also see Frau at the same time. She also hasn’t been out in the city a lot, so this was going to be a good opportunity for her to learn more about the place.